Keeping the gang together: Stylist opens salon with former J.C. Penney staffers
On June 4, the 18 hair stylists who worked at the salon inside J.C. Penney at the Clearview Mall were informed that by the end of the summer, the salon would close.
The news was all but inevitable when the retailer's parent company filed for bankruptcy protection in mid-May and announced that 154 locations would be shuttered.
The store at the mall is set to close in September, but the salon's final day was Sunday.
When news about the closure came in, the stylists, some with as many as 30 years of experience, others with as little as one, were worried about what they would do next.
For one stylist, Audra Bowers of Fox Chapel, the salon closing was a beginning, not an end.Bowers, a 19-year employee of the salon, always thought about opening a salon of her own, but with a stable job and good benefits, she never wanted to leave J.C. Penney.“I've always kind of said that if something happened to J.C. Penney, I knew I had to do this,” said Bowers who was born and raised in Meridian.“I have so many years in the company I never really wanted to leave. The thought (to open a salon) was always there, but I had a lot to lose.”The future of the other stylists, however, was less certain.In a few months, they would be out of a job and there isn't a salon in the area large enough to take them all in.At best, the stylists could have split up and taken jobs at different salons — at worst, some, if not most, might have been forced to leave the area in search of employment.Bowers decided that if she was going to open her own salon, she had to bring all the stylists from J.C. Penney, whom she described as a “family,” with her.“I couldn't offer half of them a job,” Bowers said. “I had to be willing to offer them all a job.”Fifteen of the 17 stylists who worked with Bowers at J.C. Penney will join her at her new salon, Encore Salon by Audra Jane.With employees taken care of, the next thing Bowers needed was a location, and she might have found the perfect one.
Hair Specialists II was a salon in the Moraine Pointe Plaza for a number of years.In February 2015, a driver crashed a car through the storefront at the salon's 606 Moraine Pointe Plaza location.The salon reopened shortly after the crash, but soon relocated to 612 Moraine Pointe Plaza, where it operated before closing a few years later.Bowers could have moved into either the 606 or 612 location, but opted for the 606 storefront, in part, because it was big enough to accommodate all of the J.C. Penney stylists.The 18 stations and three wax/eyelash rooms could make Encore the largest salon in Butler, according to Bowers.In addition to the practicality of the space, there was another reason Bowers preferred the 606 location.Her grandmother, Jane Kummer, used to go to the salon in that very spot.“My grandmother used to come here. She came and got her hair and nails done probably until the day she died,” Bowers said.“She passed away in '17, (opening the salon) would probably make her smile.”Bowers' middle name comes from her grandmother; it is where the “by Audra Jane” comes from in the salon's name. She also said it was her grandmother who helped her get interested in beauty.“Most little girls bake cookies,” Bowers said. “Me and my grandmother did each other's nails.”
Bowers said the storefront had been vacant since Hair Specialists II moved out five years ago.However, the location was in good shape, she said, and just needed some renovations that Bowers and her husband, Rick, were able to do themselves.For equipment, Bowers said she was able to buy most of what she needed during J.C. Penney's liquidation sale.Bowers said she wants to open Monday, but is waiting on approval from a state inspector.The amount of necessary paperwork she had to fill out was what surprised Bowers the most during the entire process, but she said whenever the state says she can open, they will be ready.
